List of rail accidents (1990–99)

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This is a list of rail accidents from 1990 to 1999.

1990s

1990

• January 4, 1990 – Pakistan – Sukkur rail disaster: A Multan–Karachi Bahauddin Express collided head-on with standing 67 cars of freight train at Sangi station, Sukkur, Sindh. In an incident caused by railroad workers error of switched onto track line. Pakistani official estimated killing 307 people, and another 500 more injured.
• February 2, 1990 – West Germany – Rüsselsheim train disaster: Two S-Bahn commuter trains collide in Rüsselsheim, killing 17 and injuring 80.
• February 16, 1990 – Switzerland – A passenger train collides with a rail-mounted crane at Saxon. Three people are killed and twelve are injured.^[1]
• March 7, 1990 – United States – Philadelphia, Pennsylvania: A bolt securing a traction motor on a SEPTA subway-elevated train fails, causing the train to derail. Three people are killed and 150 injured.^[2]
• August 20, 1990 – Poland – Ursus rail crash, near Warsaw. At 6.20 a.m., a passenger train called "Silesia" - from Praha to Warsaw (Warszawa Wschodnia) - telescoped last car of passenger train from Szklarska Poręba to Warsaw, killed 16, injured 43. Cause of crash is unknown (probably - fault of signalling)^[3]
• December 12, 1990 – United States – Back Bay rail accident: Amtrak's Night Owl, the Northeast Corridor's overnight train, traveling at excessive speed around a curve inside a tunnel, crashes into the rear of an MBTA commuter train in Back Bay station in Boston, Massachusetts. This accident injured 453 people and was so severe that the locomotives of both trains along with several coaches had to be scrapped on site.^[4]
• December 20, 1990 – Taiwan – A Kaohsiung-Taipei express train collides with a bus carrying 51 farmers returning from travelling at level crossing at Lu Chu, Kaohsiung, which bursts into flames, killing 25 people, and injuring 32.^[5]

1991

• May 14, 1991 – Japan – Shigaraki train disaster, Shigaraki, Shiga: 42 people were killed.^[6]
• May 16, 1991 – United Kingdom – A tanker train is derailed and catches fire at Bradford-on-Tone, Somerset.^[7]
• July 15, 1991 – United States – Dunsmuir, California: A 20,000-gallon tank railroad car containing the herbicide metam sodium derailed from a northbound Southern Pacific freight train, tumbling off of the bridge over the Sacramento river at the Cantara Loop and rupturing on the rocks below. The car's entire load spilled into the river. Virtually every aquatic organism on a 40-mile stretch of river was killed.^[8]
• July 21, 1991 – United Kingdom – Glasgow: Newton Rail Accident kills 4 and injures 22. Junction layout cited as a contributing factor.
• July 29, 1991 – United States – Seacliff, Ventura, CA: A Southern Pacific freight train carrying hazardous chemicals derailed in the Ventura County coastal community of Seacliff. Four of the 14 railroad cars that spilled off the tracks were carrying two types of chemicals: a half-strength aqueous hydrazine solution used to make agricultural, metal plating, plastics and photo processing chemicals; and naphthalene, an industrial solvent for making other chemicals. http://articles.latimes.com/1991-07-29/local/me-203_1_southern-pacific-freight-train
• July 31, 1991 – United States – Lugoff, South Carolina: The Amtrak Silver Star derails the rear portion of its consist on the former Seaboard Air Line of the CSXT Railroad when a faulty switch split (moved out of position) as the train passes over it, directing a coach into a hopper car standing on a siding, and derailing the following equipment. Eight passengers die and 76 are injured.^[9]
• August 5, 1991 – Canada – Kinsella, Alberta: A CN consist (5300, 5130, 5418) heading westbound pulling an intermodal train struck a truck carrying light crude oil at a marked highway crossing. The impact did not derail the train, but did ignite the crude oil and caused significant damage to the entire train. The three train crew members and truck driver were all killed.^{[10][11][12][13]}
• August 26, 1991 – United States – Downers Grove, Illinois: Mary T. Wojtyla, 41, of Chicago died when she stepped in front of a westbound Metra EMD E9 pulling a "Racetrack" express train, estimated to be traveling at 60 miles per hour. The accident occurred at the Fairview Avenue grade crossing/Fairview Station. She crossed the center track and was struck and killed instantly. Her lawyer saw the oncoming train and was not struck. Accident was caught on tape by railfan's camera.^[14]
• August 28, 1991 – United States – New York City: Five people are killed and more than 200 injured when a #4 Lexington Avenue express train derails going over a switch just north of Union Square. Two subway cars break open as they strike the steel tunnel support beams. The uninjured motorman, who passengers report had been handling the train erratically, flees the scene and is arrested later, testing out as legally drunk. This accident, coupled with the Amtrak Colonial wreck at Chase, Maryland on January 4, 1987, is instrumental in driving new federal rules for engineer certification and toxicology testing.^[15]
• September 6, 1991 – Republic of the Congo – More than 100 people are killed after a passenger train from Pointe Noire collided head on with a goods train carrying timber from Brazzaville.^[16]
• October 16, 1991 – France – . A freight train overruns a closed signal, and fouls the path of the Nice-Paris night train at Melun. 16 people are killed. The accident was caused by a heart attack suffered by the freight train engineer. The deadman mechanism worked perfectly, but it was too late to stop the train in time. This led to the adoption of the KVB automatic train control system which will detect improper train handling.^[17]
• November 2, 1991 – United Kingdom – A sandite train catches fire in Standedge Tunnel, West Yorkshire.^[18]
• November 15, 1991 – Taiwan – Miaoli: One northbound Tze-Chiang Train (the first-rank limited express service in Taiwan) ran over the stop signal and collided into the tail of a southbound Chukuang train (also a type of limited express service but with lower rank). 30 people died and 112 injured.^[19]
• December 7, 1991 – United Kingdom – A diesel multiple unit is in a rear-end collision inside the Severn Tunnel, injuring 185 people.

1992

• March 3, 1992 – Russia – Podsosenka train disaster, 43 killed.
• August 8, 1992 – Switzerland – A train and a tram collide at Zurich. One person is killed and nine are injured.^[1]
• April 29, 1992 – United States – at Bell King Road in Newport News, Virginia, a crossing without gates or warning lights, Amtrak's Colonial passenger train collides with a dump truck carrying sand. The driver of the truck is killed by the collision, and fifty-four passengers are injured in the ensuing derailment. Witnesses allege that the train's engineer failed to sound his horn until two seconds before the collision. The estate of the truck-driver later sues the railroad, and the case is settled for an undisclosed amount after three days of trial.^[20][21]
• August 12, 1992 – United States – just outside Newport News, Virginia, Amtrak's Colonial passenger train, traveling at nearly 80 mph (130 km/h), enters a switch that had just moments before been opened by a pair of saboteurs. Though there are no fatalities, dozens are injured. Sixty of the passengers subsequently sue Amtrak and CSX (who owned the right-of-way) for negligence, but the case is decided in favor of the railroad companies as it was determined that there was no way for the train crew to prevent the incident. The two men (Joseph Loomis and his accomplice, fellow Coast Guardsman Raymond Bornman Jr. ) were sentenced to federal prison terms for the crime.^[22]
• November 15, 1992 – Germany – eleven people die and fifty-two are injured when the wreckage of a derailed freight train is hit by an express train near Northeim.^[23]
• November 30, 1992 – Netherlands – Hoofddorp train accident near Hoofddorp. An Intercity train, travelling from Amsterdam to Vlissingen derailed near Hoofddorp. Five people died, and thirty-three were injured.

1993

• March 28, 1993 – South Korea – a Mugunghwa-ho train in the vicinity of Gupo Station in Busan rolled due to land depression under a section of track caused by nearby construction. 78 people were killed and another 198 injured making it the worst rail accident in South Korea.^[24][25]
• September 22, 1993 – United States – 1993 Big Bayou Canot train wreck, near Mobile, Alabama: Barges being pushed by an off-course towboat collide with a bridge piling; the bridge shifts out of alignment, creating a kink in the rails on the CSXT's former Louisville & Nashville Gulfcoast line. Minutes later, Amtrak's Sunset Limited derails at high speed on the misaligned track and plunges into the water, causing a massive fuel spill and fire. 47 people are killed in Amtrak's deadliest accident.
• November 11, 1993 – United States – near Kelso, Washington: A Union Pacific and a Burlington Northern freight train collide, head-on, due to the Burlington Northern train failing to stop for a red signal, which was likely missed due to dense fog, killing the 5 crew members on board both trains. Due to this incident the two railroads implemented new safety features called "Precision Train Control" (an ancestor to, the later federally mandated, Positive Train Control) on 750 miles of UP and BN track.^[26]

1994

• March 8, 1994 – Switzerland – a freight train derails at Zurich. A tank wagon carrying petrol explodes, injuring three people.^[1]
• March 9, 1994 – South Africa – A commuter train with eight-cars carrying 800 passengers is derailed in a suburb of Durban, KwaZulu-Natal, killing at least 63 people, injuring another 370.
• March 21, 1994 – Switzerland – The side of a passenger train from Brig to Romanshorn is ripped out by a crane wagon at Däniken. Nine people are killed.^[1]
• May 16, 1994 – United States – Amtrak's Silver Meteor passenger train, bound from New York to Florida, derailed near Selma, North Carolina after hitting a cargo container jutting out from a passing freight. The Amtrak engineer was killed and nearly 100 passengers were injured.^[27]
• June 25, 1994 – United Kingdom – Greenock rail crash, Scotland: Two people are killed when a train strikes concrete blocks that were placed on the track by vandals.
• August 3, 1994 – United States – The westbound Lake Shore Limited, operated by Amtrak, derailed in Batavia, NY on Conrail tracks. The accident occurred at 3:44 am. Luckily, there were no deaths, but 108 passengers and 10 crew members were injured. Of the 18 cars on the train, 14 derailed and had serious damage. Cars 8-12 on the consist fell down an embankment.
• September 29, 1994 – Germany – Two passenger trains collide head-on near Bad Bramstedt, resulting in the death of six people and injuring 67.^[23]
• October 15, 1994 – United Kingdom – Cowden rail crash - Two trains collide head on in Cowden, Kent, after a driver runs through a red signal, 5 people killed, 12 injured
• December 2, 1994 – Hungary – Szajol – szajoli vasúti baleset, A train train going to Budapest derails after it passes through a false switch at 110 kilometers/hr. It collided with a station building, killing 29 people and injuring 52 more. It was the second worst rail incident in post-World War II Hungary, after the 1968 Mende rail disaster, which killed 64 people.
• December 14, 1994 – United States – A westbound Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe intermodal train lost control and crashed into the rear of a westbound Southern Pacific coal train just below California Highway 138, between Alray and Cajon.

1995

• January 31, 1995 – United Kingdom – 1995 Ais Gill rail accident: A diesel multiple unit runs into a landslip at Ais Gill, Cumbria and is derailed. Another diesel multiple unit is in collision with it. One person is killed and 30 are injured.
• May 26, 1995 – United States – Two SB CSX freights collide near Flomaton, Alabama, on the former Louisville and Nashville Railroad, forcing the evacuation of dozens of Northwest Florida families. One of the derailed tank cars leaks vinyl chloride.^[28]
• June 16, 1995 – United States – Gettysburg Railroad Boiler Explosion, Gardners, Pennsylvania. A Gettysburg Railroad steam locomotive suffers a catastrophic boiler explosion due to low water. Three crew are seriously injured. The National Transportation Safety Board investigated, finding poor training, complacency and a general loss of the craft skills needed to operate and maintain steam. They also reported that an even more serious explosion had been averted by the fact that the locomotive was fitted with fusible plugs, a safety feature rarely found in North America but common in Europe. Major new regulation of steam locomotives followed.^[29]
• June 24, 1995 – Czech Republic – Krouna train accident: Four runaway carriages smashed into a passenger train carrying 23 people. 19 people killed, only 4 passengers survived.
• August 11, 1995 – Canada – Russell Hill Subway accident, Toronto, Ontario: A subway train collides with the stationary train ahead after a driver misinterprets a signal. 3 people are killed, and 30 injured.
• August 20, 1995 – India – Firozabad rail disaster, India. A passenger train collides with another train that had stopped after it had run over a cow in Firozabad. 358 people are killed.

The destroyed school bus in the Fox River Grove level crossing accident.

• October 9, 1995 – United States – Palo Verde, AZ Derailment, Palo Verde, Arizona: Unidentified saboteurs shifted a rail out of alignment after attaching a jumper circuit, keeping the signalling circuit closed. Amtrak's Sunset Limited subsequently derailed, plunging 4 cars into a dry riverbed killing one and injuring 78 people, 12 seriously.
• October 25, 1995 – United States – Fox River Grove bus-train collision, Illinois: A school bus caught between a railroad crossing and a red traffic light is hit by a Metra commuter train, killing seven students.
• October 28, 1995 – Azerbaijan – Baku Metro fire, the world's deadliest metro disaster. A train catches conflagration during Saturday evening rush hour. 289 people are killed and 265 injured.
• December 21, 1995 – Egypt – A Cairo-Beni Sueif passenger train and Cairo-Aswan passenger train collision by dense fog and two trains running same track, crashing many passenger cars and a locomotive in Badrasheen railroad station, killing 75 people and injuring 150.^[30]
• December 25, 1995 – Spain – Jaén: An express from Barcelona to Seville via Malaga, with 220 people aboard, derails at a bridge over the 50 m (160 ft) deep Despeñaperros canyon. The locomotive comes to rest in a near-vertical position leaning against the bridge, but remains coupled to the first car, suspending the car's forward end above the bridge. Only the two enginemen are killed.^[31][32]

1996

• February 1, 1996 – United States – Cajon Pass, San Bernardino County, California: An AT&SF freight train carrying hazardous materials derailed due to failed brakes in the steep pass, killing two crewmen, injuring the engineer, and shutting down Interstate 15 for several days due to a cloud of noxious fumes.^[33]
• February 16, 1996 – United States – Silver Spring train collision, Silver Spring, Maryland: The engineer of a MARC commuter train bound for Washington Union Station, collides with outbound Amtrak train no. 29, the westbound Capitol Limited after the MARC crew apparently forgot an approach signal and failed to reduce speed. The crash left 3 crew and 8 passengers dead aboard the MARC train.^[34] Three people die of injuries suffered in the impact; but the rest are killed by smoke and flames, the fire which may have been ignited by oil pot switch heaters. This accident lead to the FRA instituting the Delay in Block Rule, and also was a major impetus for the Passenger Equipment Safety Standards regulation (49 CFR Part 238).

Weyauwega derailment aftermath, March 5, 1996.

• March 4, 1996 – United States – Weyauwega derailment, Wisconsin: A broken switch derails a Wisconsin Central train carrying liquefied petroleum gas and propane. The town of Weyauwega, Wisconsin, is evacuated as the fire burns for most of the 18-day evacuation.
• March 8, 1996 – United Kingdom – Stafford rail crash (1996): A freight train is derailed due to an axle failure. A Travelling Post Office train collides with the derailed wagons. One person is killed and 22 are injured.
• April 18, 1996 – India – Gorakhpur–Gonda passenger train into a stationary freight train at Domingarh station, outskirt of Gorakhpur, Uttar Pradesh, killing at least 60.^[35]
• April 21, 1996 – Finland – Jokela rail crash: passenger train operating in heavy fog derails at Jokela, because of overspeeding through a slow-speed turnout. The locomotive driver and three passengers were killed, and 75 were injured.
• August 8, 1996 – United Kingdom – Watford rail crash: An electric multiple unit overruns a signal at Watford Junction and comes to a halt foul of a junction. Another electric multiple unit is in a head-on collision with it. One person is killed and 69 are injured.
• September 16, 1996 – Switzerland – a passenger train collides with a locomotive at Courfaivre after passing a signal at danger. Thirty people are injured.^[1]
• September 26, 1996 – Russia – level crossing collision of a diesel locomotive into a school bus between Bataysk and Salsk in Rostov Oblast. 19 people killed, including 18 children. September 28 was declared national day of mourning.^[36]
• November 18, 1996 – France / United Kingdom – 1996 Channel Tunnel fire: A fire occurs on board a Eurotunnel Shuttle train inside the Channel Tunnel. Thirty-four people are injured.
• December 30, 1996 – India – Brahmaputra Mail train bombing, 33 people are killed in deliberate explosion on a train in Assam.

1997

• January 12, 1997 – Italy – A Pendolino train derails just before a train station at Piacenza, killing 8 people and injuring 29 others.^[37][38]
• July 28, 1997 – India – Faridabad train crash, 12 people die in a collision at Faridabad in the Delhi suburbs.^[39]
• September 19, 1997 – United Kingdom – Southall rail crash, London: A passenger train collides with a freight train, killing 6 people.
• October 23, 1997 – Australia – Beresfield rail accident: coal train collides with the rear of an earlier coal train and blocks all tracks causing collisions with other trains - SPAD.
• November 13, 1997 – Switzerland – Two passenger trains collide at Appenzell. Seventeen people are injured. One of the trains had passed a signal at danger.^[1]
• December 9, 1997 – Germany – Hanover: A regional train carrying more than 300 passengers collides with a freight train consisting of 20 tanker cars filled with petrol. Five of the wrecked tankers ignite and explode. More than 90 people injured.^[40]

1998

• February 15, 1998 – Cameroon – Yaounde train explosion, Spilt fuel oil from a tanker train crash ignited and exploded, killing more than 100 people.

The Jyväskylä derailment

• March 6, 1998 – Finland – Jyväskylä rail crash: express passenger train derails at Jyväskylä as a result of over-speeding while passing over a slow-speed turnout. The locomotive driver and nine passengers were killed, 94 people were injured.
• March 10, 1998 – United States – A BNSF train hits a school bus in Buffalo, Montana. The school bus driver stopped at the crossbuck crossing (no gates or lights) to check for a train. But a student on the bus asked the driver a question. The driver answered the question, then proceeded onto the tracks and was struck. 2 students were killed and 4 others were injured.
• April 4, 1998 – India – Fatuha train crash, At least 11 people die in derailment near Patna(near Fatuha station) on the Howrah-Delhi main line as Howrah-Danapur Express derails between Fatuha and Bankaghat stations.

Destroyed cars from the Eschede train disaster

• June 3, 1998 – Germany – Eschede train disaster: Part of a high-speed ICE train derails at Eschede because of a faulty wheel rim and strikes a bridge. The bridge collapses as the third car hits its pylons, the remaining cars and the rear power unit jackknife into the pile. The first three carriages are separated from each other and come to a halt at Eschede railway station whilst the undamaged power car continues for another two kilometres until its brakes are automatically applied. 101 people are killed.
• October 2, 1998 – United States – The Savannah Morning News reported that Amtrak's Silver Star struck a delivery truck at a private crossing near Hinesville, Georgia killing the engineer and the truck driver.^[41]
• October 18, 1998 – Egypt – An Alexandria–Cairo passenger train crashes at Kafr el-Dawar station, Nile Delta, in an incident caused by train driver exceeding the speed limit, killing 47 people, another 104 are injured.^[42]
• November 26, 1998 – India – Khanna rail disaster, Sealdah express rams into three cars of derailed carriages of Golden Temple mail bound for Amritsar at Khanna station, outskirts of Ludhiana, Punjab, according to official confirmation, at least 212 people are killed.^[43]

1999

The Bourbonnais derailment

• March 15, 1999 – United States – Bourbonnais train accident, Bourbonnais, Illinois: The southbound Amtrak City of New Orleans, traveling at approximately 80 miles per hour (130 km/h), slams into a semi-trailer truck loaded with steel concrete reinforcing bar (rebar) at a grade crossing and derails. An ensuing fire sets one Superliner sleeper car ablaze. Eleven people were killed and over 100 were injured. It was subsequently determined that the truck driver had ignored the grade crossing signals and drove around the lowered gates.
• April 12, 1999 – Serbia – Grdelica train bombing: NATO warplanes fire on a civilian train killing 14 people.
• August 2, 1999 – India – Gauhati rail disaster, Gauhati: Two express trains collide head-on. More than 285 people are killed.
• October 5, 1999 – United Kingdom – Ladbroke Grove rail crash: Two trains collide head-on because of a signal passed at danger and smashed fuel tanks catch fire, killing 31 people and injuring 400.^[44][45]
• November 1, 1999 – Switzerland – Two trains collide in Bern after one of them passes a signal at danger. Two people are killed and many are injured.^[1]
• December 3, 1999 – Australia – – Glenbrook rail accident, New South Wales: Stop and Proceed rule at red signal applied with insufficient care (too much speed), killing 7.
• December 30, 1999 – Canada – Mont-Saint-Hilaire, Quebec: Several tank cars filled with gasoline and heating oil from the CN freight train 703 traveling westward derailed as it was passing the CN freight train 306, traveling in the opposite direction on a parallel track. Train 306 hit the derailed wagons, which explode on impact, killing the engineer and the conductor of the 306 and starting a fire which was to burn 2.7 million liters of oil and force evacuation of 350 families within a 2 kilometers radius over the next four days.^[46]

See also

• List of accidents by death toll, category "other"
• List of road accidents - includes level crossing accidents.
• List of British rail accidents
• List of Russian rail accidents
• Years in rail transport

References

Sources

• Haine, Edgar A. (1993). Railroad wrecks. Associated University Presses. ISBN 978-0-8453-4844-4. 
• Rolt, L. T. C.; Kichenside, G. M. (1982). Red for Danger: A history of railway accidents and railway safety (4th ed.). Newton Abbot, Devon: David & Charles. ISBN 0-7153-8362-0. OCLC 9526651. 
• Shaw, Robert B. (1978). A History of Railroad Accidents, Safety Precautions and Operating Practices. LCCN 78104064. 
• Earnshaw, Alan (1993). Trains in Trouble: Vol. 8. Penryn: Atlantic Books. ISBN 0-906899-52-4. 

External links

• Railroad train wrecks 1907-2007

Rail accidents Main topics Classification Boiler explosion Derailment Head-on collision Runaway Signal passed at danger Stop and examine Telescoping Train wreck Tram accident Chronology Before 1880 1880–99 1900–29 1930–49 1950–59 1960–69 1970–79 1980–89 1990–99 2000–09 2010–present Related lists Lists of rail accidents By country By death toll Boiler explosions Bridge failures Level crossing accidents Terrorist incidents Categories By country By type By year Deaths Fires Investigators Level crossing Involving fog Runaway train